danimacuk's reviews
356 reviews

The Good: I saw this book on the shelves of the YA Fiction, and I convinced myself that I had to have it. The cover work is beautifully designed. The black-and-white vintage photograph of a hauntingly bizarre floating girl, coupled with beautiful text and Victorian-esque borders caught my eye instantly. The inside of the book is speckled with vintage black-and-white photography that usually adds to the story very well.

The story includes several very humorous moments, and I found the peculiar children very likable characters. I looked forward to hearing descriptions of them, and really liked the interactions they had with the main character. The photography also really added to getting to know the characters.

I found the aspects of time-travel and superpowers (or "peculiarness") really interesting as they were described in the book. I liked how they were described well enough to give a context, but not over-described so that it got boring or too technical.

The Bad: The "big fight scene" of the book seemed a little bit short and drawn-out, without much of a crescendo. I also found the ending rather disappointing, since it sort of leaves off in the middle of one of their adventures. I was wanting to know what happened to some of the characters. Either a sequel needs to come around, or the novel would have been better ending at a later point in the story.

I also was feeling like some of the characters in the beginning needed more exploration. I would've liked to get to know the relationship between Jacob and his father a little bit better, especially before they went to the island. It would have also been interesting to know what his grandfather was like when he was living in the home. I wish that the death of his grandfather in the beginning wasn't the end we really heard/saw him.


Overall, I liked the book. It was a good, quick read. The pace dragged in some places, but it was an enjoyable book. I'd be interested in reading either a prequel or a sequel.

I first was introduced to the story by the movie, Fried Green Tomatoes. I really enjoyed the movie, and was looking forward to reading the book. I enjoyed that, in the beginning, the book explored the relationship between Ruth and Idgie much more deeply than in the movie. I also liked how much more candid Evelyn's thoughts were in the book than in the movie. Instead of portraying her just as a crazed and angry housewife who was bent on getting her way after tolerating so much injustice, the book really explored her thoughts behind why she was so timid, and why she began to think it wasn't right anymore for her to be treated the way she had been treated.

The writing style was a bit jarring at times. Sometimes I felt as though the jumps from present to past were a bit too sudden and disrupted the flow of the story a bit. Other times, I felt that they really added to pivotal points in the novel.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this, and I particularly loved the southern setting.

A nice, pleasant summer read. A bit predictable, but hey, I wasn't looking for anything too complex. It's a simple story of summer love and family. :)

As much as I hate to give in to hipster-ey / pop culture fascinations, I really do have to admit that this book is pretty great. I first heard about it from the famous quote about "if people were rain, I'd be a drizzle and she'd be a hurricane." And this book has a good handful of really beautiful quotes like that.

Sometimes it can get a bit stereotypical/cheesy as far as teenager-ey antics go, but overall, I really enjoyed this book.

I almost felt as though this book was given more credit than it deserves when it was recommended to me. The writing style is okay, but sometimes I felt like the lack of punctuation and run-on sentences didn't add to the story, it seemed a bit overused by the end of the book.

It also seemed like I was wanting to see more character development in the main character, and what happened to her before she was kidnapped. It glazed over it, but seemed to only focus on what happened during the kidnapping/immediately before it, and only a few minor details about her family life and personal life.

Overall, an okay quick read, but lacking in character development.